Operatic globetrotter

Setting your sights on a career in opera is tough in any country, but for Milijana Nikolic, there were a few extra hurdles. The mezzo-soprano decided to pursue singing in earnest in 1996, a time when her country, Yugoslavia, was war-torn and in the process of breaking up.

“The whole society was changing so much," says the Brisbane-based Nikolic. “When war happens, culture and music are really the bottom of society. Nobody thinks about that, everyone is thinking about how to survive the next day. I did all the competitions I could do in Serbia, and then I thought ‘what now’?" She discovered a competition in Krakow, but did not have enough money to travel to Poland. Her police officer father approached local companies for sponsorship. “Some beer companies said, ‘we can’t give you money, but we can give you beer if you can sell it’. He did."

Nikolic won that competition, and a few months later successfully auditioned for the young artists program of Milan’s famed opera house, La Scala. It was while studying in Italy that she met her future husband, Australian tenor Rosario la Spina, who lured her to Queensland. The couple, who sing around the world, are regulars with Opera Australia.

This month, Nikolic will be on the Sydney stage in Verdi’s Il Trovatore, then from March 22 will be one of two alternating Carmens in the second Opera on Sydney Harbour. The couple will perform Aida together in Detroit, then Nikolic heads to Finland for Samson and Delilah.

The couple’s trans-continental juggle has just become a whole lot trickier, too, thanks to the arrival in November of their first child, Enrico. Helping out are Nikolic’s parents, who are here from Belgrade for six months.

Having sung Aida in her eighth month of pregnancy, Nikolic does not foresee any slowing down. “It’s a very exciting, crazy time," she says with a laugh. “But our lifestyle is always like this."